The present invention relates to the field of optical viewing systems and, in particular, to the viewing systems that display images in a “split screen” mode where it is desirable for multiple persons to discretely view portions of a screen. A split screen may be a single screen with the image divided or it may be multiple display apparati closely situated.
The current state of the art of video monitors consists of various cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma displays, digital light projection (DLP) displays, and many other types of displays and projections. The CRTs, in particular are quite old in the art while the other types are of newer origin.
Often, in the art of video viewing, it is desirable to have multiple viewers simultaneously view a split screen. Further, it is often preferable for these viewers to each only view a portion of a split screen directed to them. These situations are known in the art as “split screen viewing.” Typically the screen will be divided into two parts either vertically or horizontally. Similarly, multiple screens may be horizontally aligned side by side, stacked vertically one on top of the other, or otherwise arranged in close proximity.
Many situations require the splitting of a screen and the segregation of viewers. For instance, doctors conducting a medical procedure may view a monitor with a split screen but at points during the procedure may need focus only on a portion of the screen. In such situations, the other, temporarily superfluous, half of the screen could be a distraction to the doctor. If the doctor could view only the relevant portion, he could be more efficient. Similarly, during flight and flight training, there exist times when aircraft pilots may benefit from limiting their vision to one set of screens versus contending with a multitude of superfluous split screens or sets of screens.
Similarly, in the field of television and video entertainment it is often the case that multiple persons wish to view separate programming in the same physical proximity as each other. To this end, many televisions offer a feature known as picture-in-picture where video images from different sources are shown on the television at the same time. Also, it is common for more than one video monitor to be placed in a room at the same time for viewing different programming. However, there is a recurring problem in the art where program viewers of one video image are distracted by the additional programming images.
Another common situation involving split screen viewing occurs in the video gaming community. In these situations, it is quite common for games to allow for multiple players on a single computer or gaming console. In this way, video gaming has been a social experience since its inception. Players build comradery through such personal interaction in addition to virtual interaction. These are experiences that either do not occur or are greatly weakened when players participate in remote locations.
These multiplayer features of video gaming are facilitated through multiple player input devices. Such games cover the spectrum of the gaming community from sports games, to strategy games, to action games, to fighting and war games, to simulation games, and to racing games. Moreover, most of these games are competitive such that each of these players is competing against each other. The principle image is of players crowding around a television screen, an arcade console, or a computer screen.
In the multiplayer video game situation outlined above, the split screen mode presents several problems. First, having multiple screens creates distractions. In what may be the most common situation player one, viewing the first half of a screen, is distracted by the second half of the screen just as player two is distracted by the first half of the screen. Additionally, with respect to the competitive games, players are disclosing to their opponent “privileged” information such as their location on a gaming map or their avatar's fictional health points. Such distractions and disclosures limit the effectiveness of split screen gaming.
To overcome this problem, there has been some suggestion that players physically distance themselves and view separate screens. For instance, some gamers place different monitors in separate rooms or on opposite sides of a room. However, such solutions ring hollow because they dissipate the social experience of multiplayer gaming.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a device which facilitates split screen viewing whereby viewers need not be physically segregated in order to view discrete portions of video display.